Official ALA 2006 New Orleans Wiki Launched

Meredith Farkas, who was behind the first popular library wiki (for ALA Annual in Chicago last year), has created the ALA 2006 New Orleans Wiki… and this time it’s official! (I guess that explains the Irvingesque “No organizing boycotts” rule.) Please take a look around the site and see what you can edit to make it better.

March 14, 2006 by John Uncategorized 9

mdoneil says:

March 14, 2006 at 8:12 am

No organizing boycotts?
wtf? Why is the ALA participating in something that restricts free speech.

Here is my ‘discussion’ on the rules page:

What do you mean you didn’t make up the rules, they are law. Are you trying to say that there is a law in New Orleans about politics or organizing boycotts? If it is just the site then why is the ALA participating in a wiki that restricts free speech? /mdoneil

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Anonymous Patron says:

March 14, 2006 at 6:20 pm

Re:No organizing boycotts?
Maybe you’ve never used a wiki before, but no one really has any more right than anyone else to make rules in it. You don’t like it, change it! Wikis allow ANYONE to edit or delete anyone else’s work, so just as they can delete yours, you can delete theirs. I just changed that page, which was me taking action rather than complaining about it.

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mdoneil says:

March 15, 2006 at 12:15 am

Re:No organizing boycotts?
It seems they have changed it back.

I have used wikis before, and while I shan’t debate their utility, I have no problem changing factual content that is incorrect. However since I did not contribute in any meaningful way to the upkeep of the system I am not comfortable changing any of the rules by which it is run. You may have deleted no organizing boycotts, however as it is back, it seems that they person who pays the tab wants it there.

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Walt says:

March 15, 2006 at 12:36 am

Re:No organizing boycotts?
I’m 99.9% sure “the laws” involved have nothing to do with New Orleans, and everything to do with the “official” label and ALA’s tax status: That is, some nonprofit organizations are not allowed to carry out certain political activities. That’s why ALA set up “ALA-APA,” a separate organization that can lobby for better pay for librarians, which ALA can’t do.

The alternative is to remove the “official” label. Or hope that there are no politicians looking to make hay with some constituents by claiming that ALA is abusing its IRS status…and, frankly, I’m not ready to assume that no politicians would engage in such attempts.

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coastal says:

March 15, 2006 at 1:13 am

Re:No organizing boycotts?
Okay, so where’s the unofficial Wiki? 🙂

Actually, I’m interested in why that’s a specific rule. Is there a history of conference attendees organizing boycotts? Has it been harmful to the association? Who, or what, would anyone want to boycott in New Orleans?

Just trying to understand…

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Walt says:

March 15, 2006 at 1:29 am

Re:No organizing boycotts?
I speak from no official knowledge, but I’m guessing it’s preventive: There are simply clear limitations on what specific types of nonprofits can do, and ALA doesn’t want to chance a violation. Again, that’s a guess: I don’t work for ALA, and am not even particularly active in the organization any more. But I certainly know that there are proscriptions for some agencies.

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mdoneil says:

March 15, 2006 at 8:38 am

Re:No organizing boycotts?
I do know that there are proscriptions for certain non-profits, for example my Church does not tell me how to vote (well Church with a C ,not a c.)

But I really can’t buy into the ALA being non-political. I was going to use the search function on the ALA.ORG site but it is down, which is odd. Not just not responding but some error page -notify the administrator link – down.

The ALA has an office of government relations in the Washington office so apolitical really is not a word I can use when describing the ALA.

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Curmudgeony says:

March 15, 2006 at 2:40 pm

Re:No organizing boycotts?
I don’t think that they are looking so much at political statements, so much as preventing anti ALA action by conference-attending disgruntled librarians. ALA has a lot to answer for. From charging admission for conference presenters to their continuing bald-faced lies about library recruitment they are in a maelstrom of discontent. Over on NexGen, the frustration is palatable, and–a few ALA apologists aside–that whole list is up in arms. More than once the idea of protests during ALA have been floated, and I think they are worried this wiki could allow those folks to organize more.

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Walt says:

March 15, 2006 at 9:31 pm

Re:No organizing boycotts?
There’s politics and there’s politics. Your church can take and probably does take stands on issues that play a part in politics, but probably can’t endorse a candidate. The Washington Office (one significant reason I’m a member) works on issues of concern to librarians (censorship, copyright, intellectual freedom…); it does not take political stances–ALA does not endorse candidates or parties.

As for Curmudgeonly, I’m pretty certain that has nothing to do with it. For one, it makes no sense to use a conference wiki if you’re trying to boycott the conference, except as an act of vandalism. I don’t see anything that says you couldn’t have a session at ALA about the realities of the job market, and there certainly have been such sessions.

I’m beginning to see why ALA might have been reluctant to put “official” on a wide-open site; it appears that it’s a no-win situation for the organization, given that people here at least seem to be committed to believing the worst about ALA in all questionabl situations. Odd to find myself back in the defending-ALA situation…

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